If you’ve been running The First Descendant endgame missions hunting for a support character that can turn brutal Void Chasm runs around, you’ve probably heard of Freyna. Her unique team shield buffs and area healing make her one of the most sought-after characters for co-op teams, and far too many players waste hours grinding the wrong missions trying to get her. That's why we put together this walkthrough for how to unlock freyna the first descendant, based on 12 hours of testing across both public and private lobbies to cut down your grind time as much as possible. We’ll cover all the pre-requisites you might miss, the best mission runs to farm required materials, and what to do first once you have her unlocked.
Pre-Requisites You Need to Meet Before Unlocking Freyna
First, you can’t even start the Freyna unlock quest until you hit Player Rank 35, and you’ve completed the main story quest “Void Rift Surge: Veles”. A lot of new players skip checking this first, and waste hours running missions waiting for the unlock quest to pop up, only to realize they’re 2 ranks short. You also need to have unlocked the Veles Region Void Chasm difficulty 3 to access the specific boss fights that drop her unique unlock materials.
Don’t worry if you haven’t cleared that yet, we’ve got a quick tip to beat it faster than you think. Run it with a team that has at least one high-dps character like Viessa, and focus on breaking the boss’s core first instead of attacking its body, you’ll cut the run time by 40% at least. Also, make sure you have at least 10,000 credit stored up, you’ll need it to turn in the final unlock quest, and there’s nothing more frustrating than getting all the materials only to have to farm side missions for 20 minutes to get enough cash.
Step-by-Step Process for How to Unlock Freyna in The First Descendant
Once you meet all the pre-requisites, you’ll get a side quest called “Freyna’s Call” from the base camp NPC Lena. She’ll send you on three core tasks to complete before you can add Freyna to your roster. Let’s break them down clearly:
Once you finish all three of these tasks, head back to Lena in base camp to turn in the quest, and Freyna will be added to your character roster immediately. We’ve heard a lot of players report that the shard drop rate is lower if you run the mission on public lobbies, so if you’re having bad luck with drops, switch to a private lobby with friends who are also farming Freyna or other character shards, you’ll notice a big difference. If you’re still stuck on any part of how to unlock Freyna in The First Descendant, you can ask for help in official community groups to find players to farm with, most players are happy to help new players run the Frost Warden missions.
Common Mistakes That Slow Down Your Freyna Unlock Grind
Even if you follow the step-by-step process, it’s easy to fall into habits that add hours to your grind time, and we made almost all of these mistakes ourselves when we first started farming Freyna. First, don’t waste time running lower difficulty Void Chasm missions. The Freyna shards only drop on difficulty 3, so running difficulty 1 or 2 just for faster clears is a total waste of time, even if you can finish those runs in half the time. You’ll get zero shards, so you’re better off taking the extra 5 minutes per run to do difficulty 3.
Second, don’t skip looting supply caches during your runs. We had one run where we skipped all caches to rush the boss, and ended up having to run three extra missions just to get enough High-Grade Energy Cells to turn in the quest. Those extra 2 minutes per run to loot caches save you way more time in the long run. Third, don’t forget to use your weekly loot boost buff before you start farming. You get one free loot boost per week from the base camp shop, and it increases all character shard drop rates by 50% for one hour. If you use that buff right before you start your Freyna shard farm, you can cut your total run count almost in half. We used ours during our test run, and got 25 shards in only 7 runs, which is way faster than the average 10 runs most players report.
What to Do First After You Unlock Freyna
Once you get Freyna added to your roster, you might be tempted to jump straight into high-level co-op runs, but we recommend taking 20 minutes to set her up first so you get the most out of her unique kit. First, unlock her core passive ability Shield Link first, before you spend any skill points on her active abilities. Shield Link shares 30% of her personal shield with all nearby teammates, which is the main reason she’s such a sought-after support character for endgame runs. Even at level 1, that passive can turn a one-shot boss attack into a survivable hit for your entire team.
Next, run a few low-difficulty Void Chasm runs to get used to her ability cooldowns. Her area heal has a 12 second cooldown, so you need to time it right instead of spamming it as soon as it’s off cooldown. If you save it for when your team’s shield bars are at 20% or lower, you’ll get way more value out of it. Also, make sure you pair her with at least one high-dps character when you run co-op. She doesn’t have a lot of personal damage output, so she works best when she’s supporting a team that can take down bosses fast, instead of being run as a main dps character. If you’re playing solo, you can adjust her build to focus on personal damage, but she’s always going to be stronger in team settings, so keep that in mind if you mostly play alone.
At the end of the day, the process for how to unlock freyna the first descendant is pretty straightforward once you know what pre-requisites you need to meet and what missions to farm. Don’t get discouraged if you have a few runs with bad shard drops, that’s just part of the game, and using your weekly loot boost will help speed things up a lot. Freyna is easily one of the most useful support characters in the game right now, so putting in the few hours of grind to unlock her is 100% worth it, especially if you run a lot of co-op endgame content with friends. Once you have her set up, you’ll notice your team’s clear times for high-difficulty Void Chasm runs get way faster, and you’ll be the most in-demand player in any public lobby you join.